Into the Hands of Readers
By Lillian N. Gerhardt, Editor-in-Chief -- School Library Journal, 4/1/1997
About 20 years ago, two of the American Library Association's youth services divisions opened the selection sessions for their annual booklists at the Midwinter Meeting to spectators. As a demonstration of the inexact art and science of book selection, it's a bit like watching triage while the emergency room is under gunfire as the committees rush to survey the last year in books for children and young adults.
What these committees are trying to help rescue for other librarians and teachers is the possibility of getting good books into the hands of young readers as close to publication as possible. They know that just the right book for, say, a 10-year-old is an important opportunity missed if that book is not identified or available until the young reader is 13. The right book at just the right time is very important to the individual development of young readers. We've always needed all the help offered in taking the happenstance out of this work.
That's the attitude to cling to when you comb through the annual "Notable Children's Books" list prepared by a committee of the Association of Library Service for Children (ALSC) and "Best Books for Young Adults" selected by a committee of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). These are lists of some of the better books published last year for young readers, who will probably never read them unless you make the connection possible through purchase.
Ever since Anne Carroll Moore was a kitten and Margaret A. Edwards was still a pup, some members of ALSC and YALSA have had annual conniptions over the criteria that define what it is that qualifies a book for their "notable" or "best" lists. Both terms are very slippery.
ALSC's use of the word "notable" is suitably elastic if you look at this year's compilation. You will find titles that are: notably good to look at, notably amusing, notably motivational or inspiring, and notably informative on a variety of topics. (The list is noticeably heavy on fiction as always and as noticeably intent on multiethnic diversity.) "Notable" only means "worthy of attention." Those who want only the most stylistically elegant, or a sort of "Instant Classic" stamp approval, will once again be disappointed. For those who want a list of children's books published last year that will become swiftly popular without adult promotion -- forget about it. Most, if not all titles, require young readers to stretch a bit -- which, in turn, requires your expert help in introduction.
Over the years, YALSA has struggled with the tag "best" in the title of its annual list. Its charge to its selectors now asks that the books chosen be "significant for young adults." As slippery words go, "significant" is as slick as bear grease and it's just as elastic as "notable." All it means is "important." The resulting mix is important in a variety of ways -- it provides serious, amusing, enlightening as well as both stretching and relaxing reads for teenagers.
Although YALSA makes a considerable effort at enlisting selection guidance from young adult readers, both its "Best Books" list and ALSC's "Notable" lists are chosen by librarians and have an influence that can't be tracked through sales records in publishing houses or bookstores or via library circulation records.
At their most influential, these lists can help recognize the new, the different and the "sleepers" -- those good books that shook almost no reviewers awake. At their most important, the selectors for the lists can get behind good books that are by theme or topic likely to attract controversy; ALSC's and YALSA's expertise in selection carries clout when such books are taken to court in censorship cases.
But, another important use beyond purchase advice to which these lists can be put is right in front of us. Our state and federal legislators are focused on a fully literate electorate for the 21st century. The corporations that fund their political campaigns are openly fearful of contending with a future workforce that can't read swiftly and with comprehension. These lists can help us show how many years and how many books at every level of difficulty and literary distinction it takes to turn out readers who are both competent and comfortable with words in print. Total the suggested list prices on these two selection aids. The sums will be much greater than many school libraries have to spend for new books in this year or next.
That's a national disgrace that can't be wired away with technology at the local level. It takes realistic library book budgets every year. Next year or after the millennium will be too late for the good books that young readers need right now.
Renée Olson
Editor-in-Chief
rolson@slj.cahners.com
